Recycles.Org  BETA Nonprofit Materials Exchange Network Computer & Office Electronics Recycling & Reuse

Date: Friday, 22 April 2005

Title: Cascade Asset Management

Source: http://www.madison.com/

Remarks: Elizabeth V. Gross For the State Journal

When Neil Peters-Michaud combined his environmental ethics with his business sense, he started a Madison business - one now flourishing off local trash. Cascade Asset Management, a technology recycling business that Peters-Michaud co- owns with his wife, Jessica, started six years ago with taking apart computers in their basement. The company more than doubled its sales last year, Peters-Michaud said, and now has annual revenue of $3 million and 37 employees. Most of their work comes from businesses and institutions required by law to recycle items such as computers. In August, they plan to move from their 20,000-square-foot site at 2601 Seiferth Road into a new 30,000-square-foot building on the East Side. Peters-Michaud said about 400 businesses offer the service nationwide, and the industry is growing along with the boom in electronics. He compared the technology recycling industry to the used auto industry. "There are brokers, there are salvage yards, and our niche is dealing with unsorted tech equipment," he said. "We sort out the good and process the unusable," Peters- Michaud said. Advertisement: But for Peters-Michaud, it's not all about a profitable business model. On Saturday, he will actually lose money by hosting the 13th Madison Computer Recycling Roundup, along with the city of Madison and Dane County. At the last roundup, held in November, organizers had 600 cars come through in a five-hour period. "I think people are becoming much more aware," Peters- Michaud said. "We've seen participation grow in this event each time we've done it." Cascade erases data on components that are reusable while hard drives that can't be used again are shredded, making the information they contain inaccessible, said Jessica Peters- Michaud. Unlike businesses, individuals aren't prohibited by law from disposing of electronics, said city recycling coordinator George Dreckmann, although officials would like to keep these items out of landfills. For example, according to the Computer Recycling Roundup Web site, 25 percent of a monitor is lead and so must be handled as hazardous waste. Dreckmann said he doesn't think the average computer user is very aware of technology recycling services. He cited a study two years ago in which the Madison Streets Division counted the number of electronics their workers picked up over a three-week period. He said they collected 213 monitors, 191 central processing units and 157 printers. "This shows that a lot of stuff is still getting thrown out," Dreckmann said. Peters-Michaud cited a study done by the National Safety Council that found that 60 million computers were retired in the U.S. in 2003. He estimated only 20 percent of the computers were recycled. Although Wisconsin does not have laws regulating the disposal of electronics in landfills, neighboring state Minnesota soon will have such regulations, Peters-Michaud said. He expressed concern that people from Minnesota would come into Wisconsin to dispose of their items in landfills. Dreckmann added that with better access to recycling programs, like Cascade's, better waste management is possible. "I think a few years ago, we would not have supported landfill bans for these materials, because of the lack of an infrastructure to recycle them," Dreckmann said. "But now there is an infrastructure largely in place, so the question remains who is going to pay for the recycling of these materials?" When Cascade is not doing the roundup, they make their money by selling the valuable materials gained from the recycling process, reselling useable electronics and from their processing fees. Because of the discounted processing fees at the roundup, they do not make a profit. Cascade is the only local plant that actually processes electronic material, Peters- Michaud said. There are other businesses collecting materials, but they then ship them elsewhere, often overseas. At Resource Solutions, a company that accepts computers and electronics and then takes them apart, at 2701 Packers Ave., owner Keith Boeger said he thinks people realize the need to recycle electronics. "People are a little more aware of what's going on and what to do with it," he said, adding that some towns send out fliers with their bills to spread awareness. "I don't think ignorance is an issue in our area." Tom Janssen, owner of Janssen Computers at 4325 W. Beltline, who buys, sells and repairs computers, believes many people still take the easy way out. "I think there's a lot of people that think they can throw their computer stuff in the garbage. We try to set them straight on that," he said.